Saturday, March 31, 2012

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 78

Bruins 6, Isles 3

David Krejci scored two goals to lead a balanced attack as the Boston Bruins broke open a close game later in the third period and defeated the Islanders 6-3 before a sellout crowd of 16,250 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The loss ends the Islanders' three-game win streak and mathematically eliminates them from playoff contention.

The Scoring:

1st Period

18:11 EV BOS 46 D.KREJCI(22) 17 M.LUCIC(33) 21 A.FERENCE(18)

18:40 EV NYI 21 K.OKPOSO(21) 51 F.NIELSEN(27) 3 T.HAMONIC(21)

2nd Period

4:58 EV BOS 23 C.KELLY(20) unassisted

14:26 EV NYI 15 P.PARENTEAU(17) 91 J.TAVARES(45) 26 M.MOULSON(31)

3rd Period

3:13 EV BOS 63 B.MARCHAND(27) 19 T.SEGUIN(36) 33 Z.CHARA(38)

10:37 EV BOS 19 T.SEGUIN(27) 37 P.BERGERON(39) 63 B.MARCHAND(25)

14:53 EV NYI 15 P.PARENTEAU(18) 26 M.MOULSON(32) 91 J.TAVARES(46)

16:19 EV BOS 37 P.BERGERON(21) 19 T.SEGUIN(37) 63 B.MARCHAND(26)

16:43 EV BOS 46 D.KREJCI(23) 17 M.LUCIC(34) 33 Z.CHARA(39)

The Skinny Kyle Okposo scored for the fifth straight game (a career high); he now has a career high 21 goals.PA Parenteau matched a career high with a two-goal game. Steve Staios played in his 998th career game.Josh Bailey's point streak ended at six games (3-9-12). The Islanders finished March with a 7-6-2 record.Zdeno Chara was +4; he is an NHL-best +66 over the past two seasons. The Bruins are now 37-0-0 when holding a 2-goal lead at any point.Boston has a +41 goal differential in the third period this season; the Isles are -28.

The Shots:

Isles 7-9-6=22

Bruins7-7-13=27

Home and Road

The Islanders are 33-34-11 overall and are 16-17-6 at home. The Isles are 5-2-0 in their last seven games.

Boston is 46-28-4 overall and 22-15-1 on the road. The Stanley Cup champs maintain a six-point lead over Ottawa in the Northeast Division and now have a six-point lead over Florida for the second overall seed.

In the Nets

Al Montoya stopped 21 shots but falls to 8-8-5 on the season.

Marty Turco made 19 saves for Boston as he improves to 2-1-0 since joining the Bruins.

Power Plays

The Islanders went 0-2 on the power play while Boston was 0-1. The Isles are 6-22 in the last seven games and 9-33 in the last ten games with the extra man; it's the first time in seven games that they failed to connect on the power play (matching their longest stretch since October 15-October 27, 2010). The Isles have been shorthanded only 18 times in the last nine games and are 17-18 on the PK in that stretch.

They Said It

John Tavares: "It's not fun losing…we want to finish the season strong."

They Tweeted It

@BComptonNHL"Happy 80th Birthday, @StanFischler. A legend in this great sport. #NHL"

The Coach

"We had way too many turnovers against a good hockey team… they countered every time we turned the puck over."

Leading Ice Men

Andrew MacDonald led the Isles with 21:50; Andrew Ference led Boston with 22:05.

In the Circle

The Islanders won 18 draws; the Bruins won 36.John Tavares won 8 of 20 for the Isles; Patrice Bergeron won 13 of 19 for the Bruins.

Heavy Hitters

The Islanders out-hit Boston 21-19. Matt Martin led the way with six hits and in the process established a new National Hockey League record in hits. Martin now has 360 hits (hits have only been recorded since 2005-06), breaking the record of 356 set by Cal Clutterbuck of Minnesota in 2008-09.Martin has also recorded 13 of the team's 22 fighting majors this season.

The Isles were credited with 16 blocks, led by Travis Hamonic and Andrew MacDonald (each with four).They lead the NHL with 1,304.

Goals by Period (Season)

Isles:61-63-59-3 = 186

Opponents: 69-69-87-7 = 234

Third period goals include 10 empty net goals for the Islanders and an NHL-leading 13 empty-net goals against the Isles.

All-time Winners

The Islanders drop to four games over all-time NHL .500 (1346-1342-432 in 3,120 games). The Isles have twice this season been one game below .500. Prior to this season, they had not been below NHL .500 since they were 177-178-83 prior to their victory on January 16, 1978.

Scoring

The Isles have scored 108 goals in their 33 wins (3.27 per game) and 79 goals in their other 45 games (0-34-11; 1.76 per game).In their 34 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 47 goals (1.38 per game).

Head of the Class

John Tavares has 198 career points; he is 49 points ahead of Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks.No other player in that draft is anywhere close. Tavares also has more goals and more assists than any other player in that draft.

Longest Point Streaks in NHL, Last 2 Seasons

·Sidney Crosby, 25 games (11/5/10-12/28/10)

·Pascal Dupuis, 13 games (CURRENT)

·Eric Staal, 12 games (2/8/12-3/6/12)

·John Tavares, 12 games (12/29/11-1/21/12)

·Ilya Kovalchuk 12 games (2/1/11-2/25/11)

Friends, Friends, Friends

Moulson has 34 goals this season; John Tavares has earned assists on 22 of them.He has now been on-ice for 58 consecutive Moulson goals, earning assists on 38 of them, dating back to a Moulson goal on November 17, 2010 against Tampa.

101 NHL Goals

Moulson has 101 career goals (95 as an Islander).While 262 players were selected ahead of Moulson in the 2003 entry draft, only 18 have more goals.

Road Warrior

22 of Moulson's 34 goals have come on the road.Moulson is tied with Marian Gaborik and Steven Stamkos for the NHL lead in this department.

Powerful

14 of Moulson's goals have come on the power play.Only James Neal (17) and Scott Hartnell (16) have more.Moulson is the first Islander since Jason Blake (14 in 2006-07) to have 14 power play goals in a season.

30-30-30

Matt Moulson is the first Islander since Ziggy Palffy (1995-96 to 1997-98) to have at least three consecutive 30-goal seasons. Only 4 players in Islander history have had more thirty goal seasons: Trottier (11), Bossy (10), Gillies (6), LaFontaine (6). Moulson has 95 goals as an Islander – the most by any Islander since the lockout. Moulson has opened the scoring an NHL-leading 11 times this season and the Isles are 9-1-1 when he does so.He is the first Islander with at least 11 opening goals since Alexei Yashin had 12 in 2001-02.

34-Goal Club

Moulson records the 50th 34-goal season in Islander history, matching Michael Grabner's total from last season.The last Islander to score at least 35 was Jason Blake, who tallied 40 goals in 2006-07. With two more goals, Moulson will be only the second Islander since Ziggy Palffy (1997-98) to record at least 36 goals.

30-30

Tavares and Moulson give the Isles two 30-goal scorers for the second straight season (Grabner 34, Moulson 31 last year). Prior to last year, the Isles had not had two 30-goal scorers since 2001-02 (Alexei Yashin & Mark Parrish).It's the first time since 1992-93 and 1993-94 that the Isles have had multiple 30-goal scorers in consecutive seasons (4 in both 92-93 and 93-94).

20-20-20 x 2

Moulson and Tavares are the first Islander teammates to record at least twenty goals in three straight seasons since Mark Parrish and Jason Blake did so in 2002-03, 2003-04, and 2005-06.Tavares, by the way, is the fifth player to score at least 20 goals for the Islanders in each of his first three NHL seasons, joining:

John Tavares has 77 points (31-46-77) on 186 Islander goals this season (41.4%).Zigmund Palffy (41.0% in 1997-98) is the only Islander to record points on over 40% of the team's goals in a complete season.Tavares is the first Islander since Palffy (87 in 1997-98) to record 77 points in a season.

Tavares is the third player in Islander history to record at least 77 points at age 21 or younger.The others have banners hanging at the Coliseum: Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier.(Denis Potvin had 76 points as a 21-year old.)

Parenteau's Helping Hands

PA Parenteau has 49 assists – most by any Islander since Pierre Turgeon had in 1993-94.He now has 67 points on the season.His next assist will make him the first Islander to reach 50 in the last eighteen seasons.

Only three other Islander defenders have recorded 40 points in the 2000s: Tom Poti (2006-07), Adrian Aucoin (2003-04) and Roman Hamrlik (2000-01 and 2002-03).

With 38 assists this season, Streit also joins D. Potvin and Persson as the only Isles defenders to have at least 3 seasons with at least 38 assists (Potvin -10x, Persson - 3x)He is three assists shy of becoming the first Islander defenseman since Vladimir Malakhov (47 in 1993-94) to record 41 assists in his season. Both Streit and Bryan Berard have had a 40-assist season for the Isles.

Ironman

Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 242 games since joining the team.He has now passed JP Parise for the fourth longest streak in club history. Moulson's streak is the longest for an Islander in the Post-Cup era. Billy Harris played in the first 576 games in Islander history; that figure still stands as the club record.

Frans Nielsen and John Tavares have also played in every game this season while Mark Streit is the only Islander defender to do so.The Isles have not had as many as four players play in every game since 1986-87.

Longest Consecutive Game Streaks, Islander History

1. Billy Harris 576

2. Bob Nystrom 301

3. Denis Potvin 262

4. Matt Moulson 242

5. JP Parise 240

Okposo in the Groove

Kyle Okposo has scored 19 of his 21 goals since the start of December.Okposo has scored 56 of his 65 career goals from December-April. It's the first time in his career that Okposo has recorded 20 games in a season.

Missing Men

Casey Cizikas (upper body), Milan Jurcina (healthy) and Evgeni Nabokov (injured) were scratched. Rick DiPietro is on injured reserve.The Isles have lost 341 man-games to injury so far this season. Newly-signed John Grahame served as the back-up.

Career Years

·Matt Moulson: 34 goals, 32 assists and 66 points are new career highs.

·PA Parenteau: 49 assists and 67 points are new career highs. He has 18 goals, two shy of his career best.

·John Tavares: 32 goals, 45 assists and 77 points are new career highs.

·Frans Nielsen: 17 goals are a new career-high. He has 44 points, matching his career best.

·Travis Hamonic: He has 21 assists, matching a career high.

·Andrew MacDonald: 5 goals are a new career-high.

·Matt Martin: 7 goals are a new career high.He has 14 points, two shy of his career best.

The Bruins win the season series three games to one (6 points to 2), outscoring the Isles 20-8.Boston scored six goals in each of their wins; it's the first time that they have had scored at least six in three games against the Isles in one season since 1972-73, when they did it four times.

Happy Anniversary

28 years ago tonight (3-31-88):Denis Potvin played his final regular season home game and the Isles pounded Washington 7-3 to clinch at least a share of the Patrick Division title.

All-time, the Isles are 9-9-0 on this date.

On The Farm

Kevin Poulin made 35 saves and Justin DiBenedetto added three assists Friday as the Sound Tigers rallied from defeated the Springfield Indians 6-2 at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, recapturing first place in their division. The Sound Tigers are 35-24-3-6 overall, and have won the first three games of their eight game homestand.Bridgeport has 79 points, two ahead of Connecticut for the division lead, and also holds the tie-breaker. Each team has eight games to play. Bridgeport hosts Portland on Saturday night and Manchester on Sunday afternoon.

The homestand concludes on Fan Appreciation Day as the Islanders entertain the Ottawa Senators on Sunday afternoon.Mark Eaton's overtime goal gave the Isles a 2-1 win in Ottawa in early February but the Sens have responded with two wins of their own over the Islanders.The Bob Nystrom Award will be handed out before the game to the Islander who best exemplifies leadership, hustle and dedication.Kyle Okposo won the award two seasons ago, while Frans Nielsen won last year.

And Finally…

Happy birthday to legendary hockey broadcaster Stan Fischler, who celebrated his 80th birthday on Saturday.Follow this link to some vintage audio/video from Stan, including a rare play-by-play appearance: http://www.nyiskinny.com/2012/03/happy-birthday-stan-fischler-vintage.html

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources.Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick